


Hold On Tight

by ishie



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-26
Updated: 2009-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-16 03:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishie/pseuds/ishie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's been to no fewer than thirty-seven parallel worlds and the Darkness has taken root in all of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold On Tight

**Author's Note:**

> ~~I keep thinking that there's going to be more to this, but there is not. Maybe at some point it will live up to its full potential? I DID WHAT I INTENDED!~~ Title from the fabulous cover of [A Love Like Yours by &Dusty Springfield;](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeBmdDPdrR4)

She's been to no fewer than thirty-seven parallel worlds and the Darkness has taken root in all of them. She's met countless people with faces so similar to those she knows that they break her heart again and again.

And finally, she meets the woman who could bring them all back to where they belonged. Donna Noble is going to get her home.

She stands just outside the circle of mirrors and watches as Donna disappears. Behind her, the quiet of the TARDIS is like a gaping hole in the world. She misses the hum and that little tickle in the back of her mind. She turns to look at it ( _her_ , her mind corrects) and the stillness is another reminder of how far she is from home.

The device in her pocket beeps and she has just enough time to say thank you to Captain Magambo before she winks out of existence.

Pete is waiting for her when she winks back into his world. He doesn't say anything as she falls against him, just pulls her against his chest and presses a kiss into her hair.

At the other end of the room, techs are bustling around the Cannon, resetting the coordinates. She has just enough time to wipe her eyes and then Pete's moving back behind the safety line and she's winking out again.

She watches from the sidewalk as Donna steps out into the street. Every muscle fiber in her body tightens as she forces herself to stand and watch. Her right hand tingles and she wishes, not for the first time but hopefully for the last, that the Doctor were standing next to her.

\---

She winks into existence at the top of small hill and hoists the gun into a more comfortable position. Below she can see the Doctor, and next to him, Martha and Donna. Her heart leaps up into her throat and the hum of the TARDIS expands into every corner of her brain.

The Doctor turns and sees her, gives a shout of joy and starts running toward her as she flies down the hill. She can barely feel the ground under her feet or the gun banging against her hip. She's here, she's _here_. Rose feels the buzz of time and space in her head and throughout her body and she wants to shout and sing and dance across the sky.

He's closer now and she can see the years they've been apart in the tight skin around his eyes and the desperate grin that stretches his mouth. He throws his arms wide, like a hero in a romance novel racing to scoop the heroine in his arms.

She swerves slightly and ducks under one outstretched arm, ignores the " _What._ " he tosses at her back and pours on the speed. She flings herself against the corner of the TARDIS, holds on for all she's worth. The painted wood warms under her stroking fingers as she presses her face against her, feeling the thrum of the TARDIS's heart against her skin.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Donna and Martha gaping. Beyond them, the Doctor stands in the middle of the street, arms still flung out to his sides, his face gone all pinchy and confused.

He sputters, "But you said she was coming back for me!"

Rose closes her eyes and snuggles against the side of the ship as Donna snarls, "Shut it, spaceman. You're ruining a perfectly beautiful moment here."


End file.
